Biodiversity, Landowners, Prairie Pothole Region

A legacy rooted in the Rock Point Hills

Honouring a Saskatchewan farmer’s deep connection to the land, leaving lasting habitat for wildlife

By Suzanne Joyce August 19, 2025

The half section of land Raymond sold to DUC when he retired became known as the Pulkinen Uplands Project.

A farmer from the Lucky Lake, Sask. area, Raymond Pulkinen often climbed to the crest of a well-known prominence in the Rock Point Hills, just to let his eyes stretch over the expanse of land where his family worked and played.

“He loved the land where he grew crops and raised cattle for much of his life,” Raymond’s brother Dale Pulkinen explains, “Any chance he got, he was out there riding on horseback, snowmobiling in the winter, and flying over the hills in his airplane.”

When the time came for Raymond to retire from farming in 1986, he was determined to protect the land he’d stewarded for decades. He decided to sell a half section to Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

In retirement, Raymond often returned to the Pulkinen Project with brothers, Rene and Dale, shown here. © DUC

Where legacy meets landscape

Today, the resulting Pulkinen Uplands Project continues to protect 320 acres (130 hectares) of native prairie, tame grassland and wetlands within the Missouri Coteau, one of the most productive waterfowl areas in North America.

Located roughly 200 kilometres northwest of Regina, the project’s perennial nesting cover and high wetland density support nearly 50 duck pairs per square mile, along with white-tailed and mule deer and several species of grassland–nesting songbirds. Abundant wetlands in the surrounding area and its proximity to other conservation lands adds to the project’s value as wildlife habitat.

Like all DUC-owned properties, the Pulkinen Project is also made available for livestock grazing, disturbance that serves to keep the stand of nesting cover healthy and vigorous. A long-time acquaintance of Raymond’s and fellow conservationist currently holds the grazing agreement on the project.

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Together, we’d tramp up and down those familiar hills hunting for deer and moose; in fact, the very first moose we ever saw while hunting in the Rock Point District was on the DUC lands

Dale Pulkinen

A life remembered where it mattered most

In his retirement years, Raymond often returned to the Pulkinen Project with his brothers, Rene and Dale. “Together, we’d tramp up and down those familiar hills hunting for deer and moose; in fact, the very first moose we ever saw while hunting in the Rock Point District was on the DUC lands,” Dale says.

In December 2024, Raymond Pulkinen passed away at the age of 89; the family knew that the ideal place to celebrate the life and legacy of this Rock Point Hills farmer was on the land he cared so deeply for.

On July 12, 2025, an intimate memorial service was held on the Pulkinen Project. Family and friends gathered by the project’s stone cairn with the original farm site where Raymond grew up visible to the west.

Dale provided a few brief remarks at the gathering. A long-time supporter of DUC, Dale was a member and supporter of the Tisdale chapter for nearly two decades and later served on the Crowsnest Pass fundraising committee in Alberta.

“It’s fitting that we say our goodbyes to Raymond here,” Dale eulogized, “In this place of peace and tranquility, where the grass grows and waves in the breeze, wildlife roam freely over the land, and the waterfowl and upland birds thrive in the prairie potholes and surrounding grasslands. This was Raymond’s paradise.”

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